Coup De Foudre (A Strike Of Lightning)
by sctwilightvampwolfgal
Summary: It's raining when she first falls for him, but yet the lightning that strikes in her heart doesn't have it's own physical form outside. The sun shines when he first falls for her, but the sky opens up rain on the day when that love is more than realized. *Inspired by the Figuratively Speaking Challenge by Kirby on The Miraculous Challenges Forum.*


The rain falls behind them and all around them and while no thunder strikes, no lightning flashes, in her heart it feels like it does.

Marinette's eyes flash to Adrien's, she can only hope that he feels even remotely close to how she does as she listens to his laughter nearly mute the rain around them, because all that she can hear or focus on is his freeing laugh that relieves a part of her within.

She catches her breath as nervous laughter spills forth.

* * *

Cat Noir's eyes are drawn into the confidence of Ladybug that may have been shaky to start out with, but now billows forth like smoke from her mouth.

Watching her take control, watching her purify Akuma, leaves a part of him absolutely lost under her magic light; he longs to just pull her close even though he doesn't think he can move at all past his racing heartbeat until she's by his side again.

He doesn't hug her, but he can't help his awe no matter how long all of this may take.

* * *

It hurts, Adrien thinks, to stand here at a crossroads, to have no idea where to go.

His father's detransformed and just the Gabriel Agreste while Adrien is still Cat Noir, still a little in shock, still a little broken, and Ladybug's handling this all with professionalism though despite her old theory long ago, her eyes flickered in surprise when he'd detransformed, and there was a sorrow there that obviously wasn't her own.

He loves her more for that, but he's not sure that he can ever move towards her and drop his transformation, but when she turns to him after Hawkmoth is rounded up off to whatever kind of substitute jail that Paris can hold for supervillains, he sees in her eyes an understanding.

"Adrien," Is her murmured reply, and Cat Noir wonders what gave him away as the skies open up to rain all around them, "It will be okay even though it doesn't feel like it now."

When she steps forward, wrapping her arms around him for dear life, and detransforms herself, he isn't sure if he can look or if his heart is quite ready to look.

Ladybug gingerly takes his face in her hands, powerful yet gentle, and steers it towards her; where Ladybug once stood, stands Marinette, clothes getting soaked and looking beautiful in her heartbreak for him.

He drops his transformation finally as it doesn't matter anymore whether he holds it or not.

"I'm always going to be here for you." She murmurs, "I've loved you since the beginning, before I even knew, myself."

"You love me?" Adrien feels weak, and he's not sure over whether it's all of the shock of today or if it's the rain that doesn't quit falling around them even now.

"I always have in some way or another. I fell for you as Adrien when you gave me your umbrella, because I'd seen something there in your honesty that was too much for my heart, and I've loved you as Cat Noir, as my partner, as the one that I trust more than anyone else. It didn't take that long for me to fall for you just as hard if not harder." Her voice is quiet like she's conscious of the fact that she can't compete with the sound of the rain around them.

"I love you, Marinette." There's something soul crushing, heart wrenching, about knowing that you're loved the same day when you realize that you can't help but doubt the world for all of the wrong in your life; it more than hurts to know that while you are a superhero, your father for some reason was a supervillain, your own worst enemy.

When Marinette moves forward and gingerly kisses his lips, she tastes the salt of his tears mixed with more water than she'd have expected; the rain didn't let up, just made them slip and tumble through their first kiss.

Today's a far cry from when she fell for him like a strike of lightning, when she fell for him under the light rainfall with an umbrella to keep her dry, and it's a far cry from the sunshiney day that he fell for her.

It's not a day of pleasant realizations, but rather an attempt to move on from the darkness of tainted hearts; love has never been weak, but it feels like it takes all of her and all of him to move on from the shattered world.

Love is not about to get easier, but she feels his strength pool through her fingers when he takes her hands in his, and she knows that they'll be okay, because they have to be.

She'll make sure to love him through this heartbreak and hopefully many more.


End file.
